Machines that are used to cut strips of grass sod from the earth have been used for many years. Generally, there are at least three cutting blades or surfaces in such machines that engage the sod and ground. The first blade or undercutting blade is used to cut beneath the in place sod while two side cutting blades are used to further cut the sod released by the first blade into strips of a desired width. In many cases all three blades are formed into a single unit with the two side blades being attached to the edges of the first blade. To reduce vibration the side blades may be reciprocated in a direction opposite to the reciprocation of the first blade.
In a variate sod cutting machine, the first or undercutting sod cutter blade is made of two split cutting blades facing each other that reciprocate in opposite directions under the sod.
The prior art also discloses a sod undercutting knife having a blade and blade holder of essentially equal length. In this configuration the replaceable blade is enclosed by the holder except for its projecting forward edge.
Whatever the means by which the sod is cut, it is afterward transported either manually or by a conveyor mechanism on the machine to a location for further processing such as being forced into a baller shaped configuration and maintained in that shape by encircling string or other material tied around the roll.